Man masturbates in front of woman, gropes her in Connaught Place, cops clueless

The accused snatched the woman’s phone and escaped to another terrace after she started screaming.

The woman, who works at a language school in Connaught Place, had gone to the terrace for a break when the incident happened.(Mohd Zakir/HT File)

Just hours before the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data reinforced that Delhi is the most unsafe city in India, a man allegedly masturbated in front of a 32-year-old woman and groped her in the heart of the capital.

The crime happened on the terrace of an office in Connaught Place at 10 am on Thursday when the woman walked up to speak on the phone. The woman works in the building that houses many offices.

But despite the woman describing the suspect’s facial features in detail and the availability of a “hazy” CCTV footage of the hooded man, the police said on Saturday —48 hours after the crime—said the suspect’s identify was not known.

“The CCTV footage hasn’t helped us identify the suspect as his face was not clearly visible. But we have a broad idea of how he looks and what he wore that day,” said BK Singh, DCP (New Delhi).

The woman had walked up to the terrace during a break. “Hazy” CCTV footage showed a young man, covering his face with the hood of his jacket, following her to the terrace.

“The man, who was probably in his 20s, began pacing on the terrace and staring at me. I felt uncomfortable and asked if something was wrong. He pointed to my body and kept standing and staring,” the woman told HT.

The woman said she decided to leave the place but the man allegedly blocked her way and groped her. When she threatened to call the police, he allegedly masturbated, the woman said on Saturday.

The woman pushed him and rushed towards the terrace door. “It was at that moment that I realised that he had bolted the terrace door, not allowing me to escape,” she said.

When the woman screamed at him, he made an obscene comment before snatching her mobile phone. “He then stepped over to the adjoining terrace and escaped. I could not recognise the man, but it seemed like he knew the place well,” said the woman.

The victim then shouted out to her colleagues who rushed to the terrace. A case was registered at the Connaught Place police station at the woman’s complaint, but police have failed to make any breakthrough.

“This was not a crime in the evening or night. It occurred at the peak working hours of the day. It is shocking the police have been unable to even identify the suspect despite the presence of so many CCTV cameras in the neighbourhood,” said a colleague of the victim.

According to this friend, who claimed to have seen a “hazy” CCTV footage of the suspect, the man was a slim youth wearing sunglasses, an orange T-shirt and a jacket with a hood.